Say It Ain’t So, Sal.

**UPDATE 2**

The Royals have stated that it is a torn left lateral meniscus. Sal will have surgery in Kansas City sometime in the next couple of days. A speedy recovery would mean at least 4 weeks, while the average recovery time is 6-8 weeks.

*UPDATE*

The Royals have announced that Salvador Perez has torn cartilage in his left knee and that there currently is no timetable for his return.

Cross your fingers KC! And hope that Salvy is a quick healer!

Before yesterday’s 7-5 ST victory over the Reds, Sal Perez and Jonathan Sanchez were doing their usual pre-game warm-up when Salvy suffered some degree of a knee injury. Ned and Royals trainer Nick Kenney checked him out beofre Perez said he was good to go.

Salvy was able to crouch, so he wasn’t scratched from the lineup card. He took the field and caught the 1st inning before being pulled, leaving the game with a “noticeable limp”. And according to his Twitter account, Perez is heading to Kansas City today to have an MRI done on said knee.

Salvador Perez, while he is far from he best player, may be the most valuable and irreplacable guy on the Royals roster right now. He is supposed to be the guy who is the anchor behind the plate and earn the trust of the pitching staff. And he just signed a long-term contract…

If all goes well, Perez will be listed as day-today, with his trip to KC just being strictly precautionary. He’ll ice it up, take a few days off, and then get back to work.

If all goes to hell, we’re left with the lovely tandem of Brayan Pena and Max Ramirez/Cody Clark/Free Agent’s name here.

Without Perez behind the plate, the defense obviously takes a huge hit. Brayan Pena and Max Ramirez are both, to a degree, offense first catchers. Pena’s defensive struggles have been well noted in Kansas City, even though he has improved his game.

Manny Pina is already out for at least the first few months of the season due to a tear in his right knee, so he’s out of the short-term equation. Ramirez and Clark are non-roster invitees, meaning that neither one of them are currently oin the 40-man. So to put one of them on the roster would require removing smoeone from the current 40-man. Same goes for a FA.

So for right, now I’m in Hold-Your-Breath Mode. We should know more about the severity of Sal’s knee some time later today and I’ll update as soon as I hear something new.